Lucille Ball's daughter said she 'couldn't have taken it' if Nicole Kidman looked exactly like her mother in 'Being the Ricardos'
- Lucie Arnaz said on Instagram she "couldn't have taken it" if Nicole Kidman had resembled Ball more.
- Kidman faced backlash for being cast as Lucille Ball, but Arnaz said she "became my mother's soul."
Lucie Arnaz, daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, actually prefers that Nicole Kidman isn't her mother's doppelgänger in the new biopic "Being the Ricardos."
In an Instagram video posted on October 15 — in honor of national "I Love Lucy" day in the US — Arnaz endorsed the new Aaron Sorkin film about her parents. She also indirectly addressed backlash the project has faced online for casting Kidman as Ball.
"She looks beautiful," Arnaz said of Kidman in her Instagram video. "Thank God they didn't do exact look-alikes, I couldn't have taken it."
Arnaz also raved about the "Big Little Lies" star's performance as Ball. "Nicole Kidman became my mother's soul," she said. "She crawled into her head...I don't know how you do that."
Kidman "cared very deeply about this part" and "it shows," according to Arnaz. "And I believed everything she said," Arnaz added.
Arnaz, who was also a producer on "Being the Ricardos," recently told The New York Times that she was "devastated" when Cate Blanchett left the project.
Deadline reported in 2015 that Blanchett was attached to an untitled project about the iconic redhead, and she was reportedly still involved as of 2017. But by early 2021, Kidman was in negotiations to step into the role, per Deadline.
The casting choice immediately faced criticism online, as fans of the beloved comedian said that Kidman didn't resemble Ball enough.
But Sorkin told Insider in a recent interview that "Being the Ricardos" was never meant to be the film everyone expected it to be.
"The only thing better than a story you don't know is a story you think you know," he said. He stayed away from moments he called "'I Love Lucy's' greatest hits" to avoid the pressure of copying them perfectly.
The film is also a drama about Ball's actual life, not a comedy about the sitcom character she played on-screen, Lucy Ricardo.
For that reason, Arnaz told the Times that Kidman was a wonderful fit for the part because she "understood divorce and trying to raise your children in the spotlight."
The Times also reported that Desi was an alcoholic, and Arnaz referenced Kidman's experience dealing with her husband Keith Urban's addiction, saying the "Nine Perfect Strangers" star "understood a husband who had an addiction problem."
"Being the Ricardos" is now available to stream on Amazon Prime.